Cubs' top pick Bryant promoted to Daytona

Good to be back at the ballpark. The Cubs have a few things going on, the most notable of which is this year’s first-round draft pick, third baseman Kris Bryant, being promoted from short-season Class A Boise to high-A Daytona. Unfortunately for fans in this area, that means Bryant skips the Kane County Cougars.

That’s been pretty much the plan since the Cubs signed Bryant a month ago. They want to keep Jeimer Candelario playing every day at Kane County. They also want to challenge Bryant and get him a possible opportunity to play postseason ball with Daytona.

Bryant is coming off a 15-game hitting streak at Boise, where he had an overall line of .354/.416/.692 for an OPS of 1.108. He was 23-for-65 with 8 doubles, 1 triple, 4 homers and 16 RBI in 18 games. During the 15-game hitting streak, he was 22-for-53 (.415). He also was just named the Northwest League player of the week.

We hope to hear from a Cubs decision maker on this before the night is out, and we’ll bring you those quotes.

For tonight, batting practice was washed out because of a downpour, but the sun is coming out again 90 minutes ahead of game time.

The Cubs are going with Junior Lake in center field and David DeJesus in left. It will be DeJesus’ first action in left field this year. He appeared there in 3 games for the Cubs last season.

Lefty Travis Wood (7-8, 3.04 ERA) goes for the Cubs against his old team, which throws Mat Latos (11-3, 3.21 ERA) at the Cubs.

From the game notes: Cubs hitters rank second in the NL and fourth in the majors with 84 walks since the all-star break. The team is averaging 3.5 walks per game since the break compared with 2.6 walks in the unofficial first half … Junior Lake has 32 hits in his first 24 career games. The 32 hits already are third most for any Cub within his first 25 games since 1921, trailing Mandy Brooks (41 hits in 1925) and Andy Pafko (35 hits in 1944) … Catcher Welington Castillo is batting .405 (.17-for-42) with 3 doubles, 2 home runs, 6 RBI and a .536 OBP (11 walks) in his last 15 games since July 25. His .405 average since July 25 ranks first among big-league catchers and second overall in the majors (Washington’s Jayson Werth is batting .480) … Darnell McDonald made his Cubs debut Sunday after being selected from Class AAA Iowa Saturday. He is the 50th player to appear in a game for the Cubs this year, thee shy of the team record, set a year ago.

MINOR-LEAGUE ROUNDUP

Class AAA Iowa had its four-game winning streak snapped with a 4-1 loss to Fresno. Yoanner Negrin took the loss as he worked 6 innings, giving up 5 hits and 3 runs, 1 earned while walking one and striking out seven. Negrin is 3-6 with a 4.59 ERA. Jae-Hoon Ha extended a hit streak to 13 games, going 1-for-4. During the streak Ha is 19-for-52 (.365). Lefty Zach Rosscup struck out the side in the eighth in his first game with Iowa. Rosscup came to the Cubs from Tampa Bay in the Matt Garza trade in January 2011.

“I try to calm myself down because sometimes adrenaline can be a bad thing and the game can get out of control. I just tried to stay within myself and throw strikes,” Rosscup told the Des Moines Register. “I love it here. It’s great. They really take care of us. I’m in a great spot right now in the organization.”

Class AA Tennessee had its game against Montgomery suspended after two innings because of rain. It will be resumed today. Left-hander Eric Jokisch, a Northwestern product, was named the Southern League’s pitcher of the week for Aug. 5-11. He tossed a 9-inning no-hitter.

Daytona (A) won its third straight, beating Tampa 5-4. Corey Black, who came to the Cubs in the Alfonso Soriano trade, worked 5 shutout innings, giving up 5 hits while walking two and striking out four. He is 1-0 with a 4.00 ERA. Taiwan Easterling hit his third homer, going 1-for-3 with a walk. Zeke DeVoss was 3-for-5 with a steal. Anthony Giansanti also was 3-for-5.

The Kane County Cougars committed 4 errors in an 8-4 loss to Cedar Rapids. Tayler Scott took the loss, pitching 5 innings and giving up 6 hits and 6 runs, 3 earned. He fell to 5-7 with a 4.31 ERA. Dan Vogelbach was 1-for-2 with 3 walks. Rock Shoulders was 2-for-5 as was Reggie Golden, who had a double.

Boise (A) won its fifth straight, 3-1 over Vancouver. Kris Bryant extended a hit streak to 14 games by going 2-for-3 with an RBI. Starting pitcher Jose Rosario got no decision, working 5 innings of 3-hit ball. He gave up 1 unearned run. Yasiel Balaguert extended a hit streak to five games, going 2-for-4.

In the second game of the doubleheader, Boise fell 6-5,despite getting 15 hits. Bryant made it 15 in a row for his hitting streak as he went 3-for-4 with a double, a triple and 2 RBI. He began his stay at Boise 1-for-12, but since then, he’s gone 21-for-52 (.404). Juan Paniagua started the second game and lasted 3 innings, giving up 4 hits and 2 runs. Trevor Gretzky was 3-for-4.

Mesa (Rookie) beat the Rangers 5-4. Trevor Graham started and pitched 3 innings, giving up 2 hits and 1 run. In the third game of his rehab, Brian Bogusevic went 2-for-4 with a walk, 2 runs and 1 RBI.

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Chicago's Inside Pitch

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Bruce Miles and Scot Gregor

Bruce Miles has been covering the Chicago Cubs for the Daily Herald since 1998, and major-league baseball since 1989. He grew up in Chicago and is one of those rare birds who followed both the Cubs and White Sox.

Along with Cubs radio announcer Pat Hughes, Bruce co-authored the book, "Harry Caray: Voice of the Fans."

He checks in on the fan blogs and is a daily reader of Baseball Prospectus.

Scot Gregor has been covering the Chicago White Sox for the Daily Herald since 1994, and major-league baseball since 1990.

He grew up in Pittsburgh, where he idolized Roberto Clemente. Scott graduated high school in 1979, when the Steelers and the Pirates were both the best in the world.